Simplicity, Tunnel Rd, Rotherhithe

A much-anticipated return visit and I'm going to keep belthering about this place in the hope that the people who read this site (yes, there are regulars, apparently) will go. Better yet, I'm actually going to put my money where my mouth is and try to go at least once a week for breakfast (most likely) or supper (less often).

The perfect refuge on a rain-soaked Monday evening and the chef-patron is chatty, knowledgeable - very - and devises the menus according to what he has bought and likes the look of. Cares about wine.

Starters: Cajun chicken with a mixed leaf and pepper salad; warmed goat cheese on mixed leaves with a pesto dressing. Wonderful charring and crusting on the chicken, which was firm and flavoursome. The salad was colourful and lemony, zesty but not in an overpowering way. The goat cheese and pesto were a revelation with tastes and textures coming in waves, unwrapping themselves. Excellent.

Mains: 80z Brazilian steak, rare, with sauteed potatoes, green beans, carrot batons and Bearnaise sauce; pesto-stuffed chicken breast roasted in ham and served with the beans and on a potato and carrot hash brown sort of thing. None of this could be faulted. The centre of the steak was melting, juicy, a good bite.

Dessert: lemon tart. Very short pastry and the filling was certainly lemony, though with more of a cheesecakey-type texture. A welcome departure from the lemon curd-like efforts which pass themselves off as lemon tart elsewhere. No hint of the dish being overloaded with sugar, the cause of that rush and burn in the back of the throat. My bet would be that this was made on the premises rather than being a "bought-in" pud. Berry coulis on the plate and a dusting of icing sugar were nice touches. Maybe a sprig of mint would help?

Wine: Malbec-Cabernet served in lovely big glasses - just a splash in the bottom so that it could start giving up its little treasures. Taste goes from sweet fruits to tartier berries and then a hint of pepper when the finish arrives.

£52 with coffees thrown in.

Cappuccino count: 9/10. Simple but importantly good food and Simplicity will succeed if enough people hear about it and go. They need bums on seats. There is branch in Manchester but I gather it is being sold on so that all effort can be put into this one.